My wife, very unexpectedly, “scrunches” herself right next to the babyfaced leader and puts her arms around his shoulder. That made this guy very uncomfortable. She begins to “chat him up” in an aƯectionate manner. She asks him,“What are you doing there, big guy? Could I look at some of your snapshots? He seemed afraid now- almost panicked. He gave one of these tiny nonverbal cues to his group. They made a synchronous exit and practically flew up the staircase when the train pulled into Port Authority. In a flash they were all gone. I asked Colleen why she did that. She said, “the one sitting down was looking at you in a hateful way. I didn’t like that at all.” When I asked if she realized who they probably were she just nodded. This was less than five years after 9/11 and that infamous attack was on every New Yorkers mind. When we arrived at the transit police station at Columbus Circle she gave a detailed account to the captain on duty. She had the number of the subway car and exact timings of arrivals at subway stations. The captain was very impressed with all the detail. She explained that she was a student at John Jay (considered by many to be the epicenter for criminology). The police told her that her info was especially relevant as there had already
been suspicious activity in the subways of late. The man we saw on the A train was Najibullah Zazi.
He left the US and trained with Al Queda in Afghanistan. When he returned to New York City, he attempted to carry out a massive attack on the NYC subway system. Zazi and his former schoolmates from Flushing High School had planned to carry bombs in backpacks on to NYC subways in order to stage a “suicide attack” during the rush hour. When Zazi learned that the local police were already “tracking him” he got “spooked” and abruptly left the city for Colorado. He was arrested there in 2009.
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